BCC students hold Hunger Banquet

On Thursday, November 20, 2008, students, faculty, staff, and community members at Bristol Community College in Fall River will join the nation’s oldest and largest anti-hunger movement to raise awareness on the global food crisis. Oxfam America’s Fast for a World Harvest brings home to Bristol Community College the experience of living with poverty that is shared by millions in the US and overseas. The event is being sponsored by BCC’s Rotaract Club, International Club, MASSPIRG, and Catholic Student Association.

This year BCC hopes 100 students, faculty, staff, and community members will participate in the Oxfam America Hunger Banquet event. The event will be held on Thursday, November 20, 2008 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. in Commonwealth Center (Building G) at BCC, located at 777 Elsbree Street, Fall River, MA 02720. Participants will get a chance to experience a meal as a low income, middle income or upper income global citizen. The event will feature three guest speakers who are working to address hunger, poverty, and health issues locally and internationally. They are: Ryan Lee with Project Bread, Dr. Fran Jeffries of Wheaton College (Operation Upgrade in South Africa), and Dr. Kevin Curry or Bridgewater State College (Clean Drinking Water Initiative in Cambodia). This event is one of the thousands of events taking place across the country. Tens of thousands of people take part in Oxfam America’s Fast for a World Harvest campaign every year at their churches, schools, colleges and community groups.

Tickets for the event will be sold at the door. The cost to participate is $3 dollars for students and $5 dollars for all others. Money raised from the event will be donated to Oxfam America, an international relief and development organization that creates lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and injustice. Oxfam International states that “at any given moment, there are 854 million people in the world suffering from hunger, and every day 30,000 children under the age of five die of preventable causes including malnutrition.” By participating in Oxfam America’s Fast campaign, the BCC community is doing its part to try and change the reality faced by poor people across the world.